Have some watermelon…cookie. Photo by
Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

That’s where Fancypants steps in. Their decorated cookies are as beautiful and varied as any bakery’s, but they’ve improved upon the bland sugar cookie by baking rich, buttery shortbread. We hoarded the entire box!

Because the Fancypants co-founders are former educators (a middle school teacher and an education researcher, both with masters’ degrees), they know about kids and nut allergies. So their bakery is 100% nut-free. But these are welcome gifts for nut-eating grownups too. There are cookie themes for everyone, from sports to animals to baby, wedding, holiday and custom-decorated cookies for corporate logos.

• Read the full review of Fancypants shortbread cookies.
• Find more of our favorite cookies.

Olives are full of olive oil, a heart-healthy fat. We tried the Italian-seasoned olives. The olive meat is mild, but the notes of garlic and oregano made these a tasty little snack. The brine isn’t salty but it’s very flavorful; we poured it over our salad.

For a retailer near you, see the store locator on LindsayOlives.com; or you can buy them from Lindsay’s online store. Six four-pack cartons are $14.99. The olives are certified kosher by OU.

• See more of our favorite healthy snacks.
• Check out Sonoma Farm Olives, a great gourmet olive line.
• For more information about olives and olive oil, see our Culinary Oils Section and our Olives & Olive Oil Glossary.

Healthy olives, garlic and oregano: much
better than the candy machine. Photo by
Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

Popeye ate spinach because it made him strong: It’s a very good source of dietary fiber and protein, lots of vitamins (A, B6, C, E [alpha tocopherol], K, folate, riboflavin, thiamin), calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus and potassium…and a good source of niacin and zinc.

On top of the nutrition, spinach makes a wonderful salad.

Here’s a recipe idea:

COMBINE baby spinach with Granny Smith apples, pecans or walnuts (toast them briefly for even more flavor) and goat cheese or blue cheese.

MAKE a perfect dressing from fig balsamic vinegar and olive oil; add halved fresh figs as a garnish.

ADD protein for a main meal with Serrano ham or prosciutto, or grilled salmon.

SERVE fine artisan bread on the side (look for semolina raisin) for fun, a flavored butter.

Popeye never ate so well!

Spinach salad with goat cheese, toasted walnuts (photo © Evolution Fresh).

Instead of bacon with your pancakes, you can now
have bacon in your pancakes—and chocolate, too.

You can now buy Vosges’ buttermilk pancake mix, dotted with chunks of Mo’s Bacon Bar. Or, buy the candy bar directly and chip it into your own pancake recipe. It’s a fun hostess gift, and it may even be “Man Bait,” as our friends at Das Foods, makers of the Maple Bacon lollipop (and other “shamelessly delicious” lollipops—stay tuned), might call it.

A container of Mo’s Bacon Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix is $12.00 and makes two batches of eight, five-inch pancakes. Can you have extra bacon on the side? Absolutely! Try some artisan bacon brand, though. If you don’t already buy it, you’re in for a real treat. It tastes so much better than mass-marketed brands.

Now we’re waiting for the chocolate bacon ice cream.

If you think your homemade macaroni and cheese recipe rocks, enter it in the fifth annual Tillamook Macaroni and Cheese Recipe Contest. Six home cooks (no professionals!) from around the nation will compete in the grand finale cook-off in Portland, Oregon on October 23rd. The deadline to enter your recipe is Monday, August 17, 2009 at midnight PST.

Finalists will compete for the 2009 title of the “Big Cheese,” $5,000 cash and 25 pounds of outstanding Tillamook cheese from Oregon (their great Cheddars and other cheeses have won awards worldwide). The first runner up will receive $2,000 cash and 20 pounds of Tillamook cheese; the second runner up will receive $1,000 cash and 15 pounds of Tillamook cheese. The People’s Choice Award winner takes home $1,000. Finalists and their guests will be flown out to Portland, where they will cook their recipes from scratch in front of a live audience and a panel of judges consisting of national culinary experts and professional chefs.

Mac & Cheese Chile Relleno Pie, the Second Runner Up recipe in the 2008 competition.

Want to see what the competition looks like? See some of the previous Tillamook macaroni and cheese winners:

• 2006 Recipes
• 2007 Recipes
• 2008 Recipes